I have been a big fan of the DC television universe. Arrow and Flash have gone a long way to make superheroes a part of the public consciousness, as well as to turn the CW around from just the teenage angst filled network it was for so long. But with DC Legends of Tomorrow, the network is taking their biggest chance by featuring a team-up show filled with minor characters from the DC universe. Sure, you could say that Green Arrow was pretty minor, but the guy was a member of the Justice League in the comics.
I’m lumping in part 1 and 2 of the season premiere together, because if I judged each on their own merit things would get messy. I’m still not sure why the show didn’t have a full back to back premiere, instead choosing to do it over two weeks, but I’ll let it slide. Part 1 served as our introduction/re-introduction to the heroes and villains of this time traveling team of misfits. Character wise everything is as expected, with those familiar faces quickly falling into the roles assigned. It was nice getting an Arrow cameo here and there, but for whatever reason no mention of our boy The Flash. This is probably a good thing, as part 1, even at its best, felt really rushed. Everyone quickly gets the call from Rip Hunter, is incapacitated, wakes up on a roof, and we get the series synopsis laid out before us.
While all this is pretty cookie cutter in the approach, I will grant that part 1 did throw a twist I wasn’t expecting; although I really should have known it was coming. The DC television universe is very light on major heroes, with The Flash really being the only god-like being around. No Batman, Superman (Supergirl is sort of there, but on another network), Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and so on. Even still, if you are going to put a team together to save the world, you’d think Green Arrow would be your team lead, with The Flash running around fixing everything. So it was nice that all that “Legends” build up in the trailers was quickly dashed, as Rip Hunter tells the team that none of them are actually important to the timeline. It’s a pretty awesome shock, especially to The Atom, who takes it especially hard. After a bit of soul-searching, the team bands together and make their way to the 1970s on the hunt for Vandal Savage.
We get a lot of backstory on the two most interesting members of the team, Hawkgirl and Hawkman, as well as some additional details on Vandal Savage. The show really seems to be placing the focus on these two, and I’m really excited for that as the two actors really took off in the roles. Usually it takes me a bit to connect with characters, but for whatever reason these two play extremely well off each other. We learn that their contact in the past is the son of the Hawks in a previous life, and even in episode one we are already going nuts with the time travel, paradox, time space continuum, general mindfuckery. Still, it is fun to see that the writers can really experiment and explore all sorts of crazy ideas.
No Savage this episode, outside some tangential cameo bits, but the main threat is the Boba Fett like bounty hunter that comes after Rip Hunter. Seems that Hunter isn’t sanctioned to undertake this little mission, and we find out that he broke ranks from the Time Masters (insert Doctor Who joke here) to hunt down Vandal Savage for the death of his wife and son, a death that was pretty brutal for a non-cable television show. Yadda, yadda, the team comes together to escape the Boba “Dollar Store” Fett and make their way to find savage. Not a bad start to a series, even if I did sit there expecting to come back from commercial with more.
Part 2 opens up with an infiltration of a terrorist gathering, because that’s a thing, but we do get some damn fine acting from Victor Garber. Also, it’s damn nice to see a Damien Darhk drop in for a visit to the party. The team gets into a huge battle inside the baddie warehouse and I’ll give the show this; it sure knows how to put on one hell of a well choreography fight scene. It’s really nice to see the work put in by all departments on the show, especially for something on basic television. As one imagines, shit goes cray, cray very quickly and a nuclear warhead gets activated by Savage as he leaves the proceedings, now knowing the team is after him. Firestrom comes to the rescue and we get to see the legend do his stuff as he absorbs the entirety of the blast into himself without so much as a scratch. Maybe I was premature when I said they didn’t bring along any god-like heroes. In the scuffle The Atom loses a piece of his suit (which is bad for the timeline) and the show drops the title on us. Not a bad way to get episode 2 started!
Things get touchy in the Waverider with Savage now having advanced tech from The Atom suit piece, but we also learn about the dagger that killed the first Hawks, and that it has the power to kill savage. It just so happens to be in this current time period, so Cold and Heatwave venture out to track it down and steal it, all with Palmer tagging along sans suit. The rest of the team learns that 70s Doctor Stein (only 25 at the time) is the leading expect on deus ex machina (Alpha particles) and can help track down the lost piece of Atoms suit. This is a cool excuse for some laughs, but I can’t help but think that shouldn’t the Waverider have the scanning ability to search for the piece since it’s from the future? And they already have Doctor Stien from 2016, so shouldn’t he already know how to look for said particles, since he already did so? Fucking time travel, man…
The next good chick of the episode sees the teams get into all sort of wacky hi-jinks, and while i’d be against this sort of thing, I really do enjoy the tone the show is setting. Yes, the show knows how to be deathly serious, but the writing is strong enough to know when to throw some levity into the proceedings when it counts, because you know, these are comic book characters. It’s a nice change of pace from the nearly Batman like Arrow show. It’s also nice to see Wentworth Miller as Captain Cold as he has this unique ability to hit all the right beats, whether he is being serious or playing it for laughs. Legends of Tomorrow is a team based show and the chemistry is already there by episode two which is a great sign. The only thing that really bugs me is Hawkman and every time he mentions the Temple of Horus, because it just sounds like he’s say “Temple of whores” which I guess is pretty cool if that were the case.
Each mini team continues to get into trouble, but we do get some nice character development between everyone. I enjoy that they break up the large cast and have stories within stories, both of which are equally important to the mission. It’s really hard to call any mission in this episode a secondary story, and even the Hawks are having their own mini adventure recalling their past lives. Not a lot of Rip Hunter this time around, but that’s okay as I like injecting him sparingly early on. Seeing him as someone wrangling wild horses is fun, but it also allows him to grow and become an actual trusted leader in the future. The future, future. Things have been going to plan all episode, so that can only mean that shit is about to hit the fan in a major way. Oh, and does it ever.
Cold and crew are caught by Savage, while Firestorm and company are followed back to the Waverider by young Doctor Stein. It’s only episode two and timeline fuck-ups are happening all over the place. This all leads to an epic showdown with Savage (the Stein bit is fixed too) that is on par with how the episode opened up. As the teams battles Savage thugs, the Hawks take on Savage wielding the power of the magic death knife, but since the series can’t end right now Savage gets the upper hand and amazingly kills off Hawkman. Seems that only Hawkgirl can land the killing blow and she remembers that all too late. We are only on episode 2 of the series and the show hit me with another unexpected twist with the death of Hawkman. I don’t know what’s next for Legends of Tomorrow, but it sure has my attention.
Final Thoughts:
- The show features characters that are really fun to watch and root for
- We can already see a wealth of possibilities thanks to the time travel bit
- The show isn’t afraid to take risks, even this early on
- Spotting cameos in episodes can be its own drinking game
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